Grey Wolves

The Grey Wolves is a Turkish ultranationalist and neo-fascist organization which was founded in 1968 by Alparslan Turkes, a colonel in the Turkish Land Forces. The Grey Wolves served as the paramilitary wing of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and it took part in the 1976-1980 political violence in Turkey, engaging in street killings and gun battles, with 220 Grey Wolves killing 694 left-wingers, liberal activists, and intellectuals. University students, Alevis, and even Pope John Paul II were also attacked. During the 1990s, the Grey Wolves attempted to interfere in post-communist wars in the Middle East, sending thousands of fighters to help Chechnya in its war of independence against Russia as well as to assist Azerbaijan against Armenai in the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The Grey Wolves were banned in Azerbaijan in 1995 after a failed coup, and Kazakhstan banned the group in 2005. By 2014, 3.6% of Turks supported the group.